Nature abhors a vacuum. So does my cat.

When I hear #a2council talking about the city and the university, I think about China Mieville’s “The City and the City”

These two cities actually occupy much of the same geographical space, but via the volition of their citizens (and the threat of the secret power known as Breach), they are perceived as two different cities.

The two cities are the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor; both treat themselves as sovereign nations as best they can, and though the freeway ring mostly encircles both they are distinguished by having separate police forces, separate budgets, separate public green space and separate social circles and hierarchies. It would not be hard (except on Football Saturdays) to unsee the University, and it would not be hard to live a life on campus that never saw the city, especially if you are an undergraduate.